Once upon a time, I lived in the suburbs with three salukis. Every evening, I walked several miles around the neighborhood with the dogs on retractable leads. I do not actually recommend this. There is an art-form, a ballet of sorts, involved in walking three salukis on three flexi-leads. The dogs dart to and fro, the lines zing and zang, and the walker constantly exchanges leads and hands as the dog perform complicated pinwheels in opposite directions, like a cirque de soleil act. I don't like to brag, but I liked to think we performed like a well-oiled machine, a precision dance troupe, and made quite the vision walking along our neighborhood streets every evening. Or maybe, quite the scene... Now, to change hands and leads and keep your arms from popping out of joint, you have to constantly lift the lines and leads over your head. This is good exercise for the upper body, so walking the dogs is a full body workout. My neighborhood didn't have sidewalks, but it didn't have a lot of traffic, either, so we generally walked in the middle of the road. So it was, one dark and windy night, I was climbing the hill on the way home, the leads zinging and zanging overhead, when a) a car unexpectedly rounded the bend, spotlighting us, and b) a gust of wind picked up. Did I mention I have long hair? Turns out, when you call the dogs back to you, retracting the leads, while holding them over your head, as the wind blows your hair up in the air, several things happen. None of which are good. The dogs all fly back toward you, from various directions, but not by straight routes. The leashes retract---along with your hair. They suck your hair up all the way to root, preventing you from unbraiding the tangle the dogs have made of the lines, and in fact wrapping one around your neck when one dog changes direction. After that, things go poorly. The lines keep retracting, retracting your hair along with them, pulling the dogs toward your head and toward each other until they all meet in a sudden impact sort of situation. This in turn causes more things to transpire: Your head is flung to dog head level in an attempt to not have your hair ripped out and your breath cut off. The dogs, all now stuck together and blaming one another for the unawwarented collision, realize now is the ideal time to have a massive dog fight, even though they are now attached to your scalp by a matter of mere inches. OK, only two of them; the third one is desperately trying to run away, dragging your head, now in the center of a rapidly constricting cat's cradle, with him. Of course, since you face is being trampled by the other two, he can't pull you very far. At least the car stopped. Who wouldn't, with that kind of free entertainment is their headlights? I think he may have even turned his brights on. Didn't get out of the car or anything rash or heroic like that, but he got a good show. I may have even seen a flash from a camera. Because, you know, being blinded also helped. I wish I could tell you how I got disentangled. In case, you know, you find yourself in the same situation one day. I recall trying to separate the fighters, but this is not easy when your head is the main thing between them. Especially when your throat is being garroted by the third one who just wants to get the hell out of there! So---just because I am spoiled and one of my hobbies happens to be breathing---I unhooked that one, knowing she would run home. OK, maybe not really knowing she would run home, but not really giving much a damn where she ran right at that moment. The others---I somehow got to my feet, bending over, and straddling one and unhooking both, holding them apart, one in each hand. I am now in a position to tell you that retractable leads---or at least three of them---are really heavy when the only thing supporting them is your hair. They unravel so they are hanging by about a foot of line from my head, like some avant gard hair ornaments. I stand there, trying to figure what to do. And this is when the jerk in the car decides the show is over, and starts to blow his horn. We stagger to the edge of the road, the car guns past---thanks for the help---and I trudge home feeling like Medusa (that's the one with snake hair). Or maybe Methuselah (that's the one that was about seven billion years old). I would like to say that once home, the dogs made up, the leads came out, and we all had a fine laugh. Well, the dogs made up. My hair came out. And my (now former) friends had a fine laugh as I explained the line burn around my neck. Today's tenuously related tip: Don't you love the folks who show up at the vet's office with their dog on a retractable leash? And then seem to forget how to retract it? "Oh, he just wants to be friends," they gush, as he bolts across the room to snuffle at your dog---no matter that your dog is at death's door, comatose or in the throes of a seizure. I've tried to get my dog to sound like he's hacking up a lobe with kennel cough, but they seldom sound convincing enough, and the owners seem oblivious when you mention how contagious he is. But what does work is to bring a bit of whipped cream with you, and discreetly let you dog lap it up, making sure some sticks to his lips. Then declare, "I sure hope they can get his rabies under control!" Most owners, even the ones stupid enough to let their dogs wander about the reception room unretracted, seem to understand the word "rabies"--especially when your dog is foaming at the mouth. Zip!

Caroline Coile

Dog writer, science geek, Saluki savant and communicator of all things dog. I'm concerned about hereditary health problems, the decline of purebred dogs and the changing climate of dog ownership. I compete with my Salukis in conformation, agility, lure coursing and obedience. I write about science, breeds, health and competitions---and I don't believe in blindly folllowing the accepted dogma of the dog world.